


Starting Something

by bluflamingo



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Asexual Character, F/F, F/M, Open Relationships, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-14
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-25 13:09:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/639224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluflamingo/pseuds/bluflamingo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-Avengers, Pepper has an unexpected, but not unwated, conversation with Natasha</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starting Something

To say that Pepper's gotten used to sharing the Tower with six super-heroes, one of whom she's dating, and the accompanying roster of scientists and not-as-dead-as-advertised SHIELD agents, would be an exaggeration. On the other hand, it would also be a lie to say that she doesn't like it.

She'd figured they'd all keep to their own floors, once it became obvious that they really were sticking around, and that even if they didn't, she probably wouldn't see much of them, since she was busy, and they mostly either had or created jobs to do when they weren't saving the world.

As it turned out? Not so much.

Bruce, of course, spends a lot of time in the labs with Tony, which results in several mildly terrifying inventions, and also in Tony regularly appearing for meals. When she mentions this, Bruce shrugs, and says that the routine helps with his control. Since he argued for three weeks straight in the beginning about how dangerous it was for him to be there, Pepper just nods, and starts scheduling herself for longer lunch breaks.

Captain Rogers, whom she can't call Steve no matter how many times he tells her that it's fine (whilst calling her Ms Potts, which doesn't exactly help), spends large chunks of every day out in the city. Helping with clean-up and rebuilding, Tony tells her, and Phil says that he's a good advertisement for both SHIELD and the Avengers. Pepper can't entirely argue with that (if nothing else, the man's uniform is the definition of form-fitting). She talks to some of her contacts with catering firms instead, and makes sure there's plenty of food, not just for the survivors but for the work crews as well.

Thor comes and goes according to whether he's needed on Asgard, and whether Dr Foster is at the Tower or out in the field. When he's in the Tower, Pepper grows used to finding him and Captain Rogers in the small lounge on the communal floor, watching movies with identical confused frowns. She never means to agree to watch with them, and yet she frequently finds herself humming along with the Mission: Impossible theme music, or reciting one-liners from Shrek. 

And so, one Thursday evening when Tony and Bruce have been assuring her they'll be 'five more minutes, ten tops,' for the last three hours, she wanders down to the lounge, smiling a little when she hears faint classical music through the open door. She's already mentally cataloguing the Tower's movie collection for the particular piece as she steps inside, and so it takes her a moment to realise that the two people lit only by the light of the screen aren't Captain Rogers and Thor, but Natasha and Clint.

The two of them both still work for SHIELD as well as the Avengers and though they go out on missions less frequently now, they spend a lot of time at SHIELD bases, or up in the Helicarrier. Of all the Avengers, they keep to themselves the most, particularly Clint, who Pepper rarely sees without either Natasha or Phil.

Natasha puts a silent finger to her lips when she sees Pepper, but it doesn't seem to suggest Pepper should leave, so she takes her habitual chair instead. Natasha's leaning into the corner of the couch, Clint curled up small against her, his head in her lap, one of her hands resting over his left ear, the really bad one. He looks too tense to be sleeping, but he doesn't move, not even to open his eyes, which Pepper supposes means he is.

"Bad day?" she asks softly.

Natasha looks down at Clint for a moment, then back to Pepper, affection and a hint of worry fading out slowly enough for Pepper to see them. She's incredibly beautiful, her hair soft around her face, her T-shirt emphasising her strength. Not for the first time, Pepper pushes the thought away.

"Bad day," Natasha agrees, her voice barely there, and doesn't expand.

"And the ballet?" It's Swan Lake, not Pepper's favourite, but still beautiful.

Natasha smiles. "That's for me." She touches Clint's bare shoulder, very lightly, full of affection that Pepper has to look away from. Bad enough to know that she can't have, despite her and Tony's open relationship, without seeing the evidence so strongly. "We've never been, either of us. We used to – every new year, I made him promise we'd go, but..." she shrugs. 

Pepper's not sure why Natasha, who's generally very private, is telling her this. Maybe because it's a bad day. Maybe because she's there. "Tony's like that," she says, returning Natasha's gesture in sharing. "You'd think controlling his schedule would make it easier, but somehow it never seems to work out like that."

Natasha goes quiet, watching the dancers. After a couple of minutes, Pepper decides they're done with conversation, and turns her own focus to the television. It's easy to lose herself in this, the familiar music and the unwinding story; so much so that when Natasha speaks again, Pepper's half-forgotten the other woman is there. 

"We're not sleeping together," Natasha says. "Clint and I. We're friends."

"Thank you for telling me," Pepper says, rather than asking why Natasha is telling her. When Natasha meets her eyes, she can't look away.

"I don't do that," Natasha adds. "Sex with people I care about, or relationships with men."

She looks more uncertain than Pepper could ever have imagined her looking, which makes Pepper take a moment to sort through the implications of that sentence before replying. Some of them are terribly sad, the sorts of things she tries not to think about in the context of the SHIELD agents she knows, with their anything-for-the-mission attitudes to their work. One, though, is really good.

"I'm bisexual," Pepper says, knowing she's reading things right when Natasha relaxes a fraction. "Tony and I – we're each other's primary partner."

"Thank you for telling me," Natasha says. The corners of her mouth quirk up, and Pepper isn't sure in the dim light, but she thinks Natasha might be blushing. 

"I have season tickets to the New York City Ballet." Pepper thinks she might be blushing as well. She feels a little giddy, and a little weird to be doing this while Natasha's sniper-assassin best friend may or may not be listening in. "Maybe I could take you – I mean, we could go together – sometime. If you're not saving the world."

"I won't have sex with you," Natasha says, but not like she's saying no. 

"Would you kiss me?" Pepper asks. "Or let me hold your hand? It's okay if you won't. I'd still like to go to the ballet with you."

"Yes," Natasha says, soft and something that might be happy. "Yes."


End file.
